Mating the Llama

by Oliver, Marina

  'Lucy, I know you're extra busy today, but you must come up to the farm for just a few minutes. When can you come? Have lunch with us? Bring Kate as well. You haven't met Daisy yet.'

  She was bound to see Doc. How would he treat her? She had an hour free at lunchtime, so she went up to the farm when she came home from her last morning appointment. Kate said she'd go up on her own, not wait for her. Doc was in the farmyard when she drove in, and turned to look who it was. He smiled and came across to her as she got out of the car.

  'Lucy! I'm so glad you could make it. Come along.'

  He took her arm and gave it a squeeze. There were several people in the yard – Jeff Bryant, Kate, Flick, and a tall shapely brunette she took to be Daisy, as well as some of the farm workers, so she really couldn't expect any more demonstrative gesture.

  Doc took them towards some fields behind the barns, and she gasped. So that's what the horsebox had been doing. There in front of them were at least a dozen llamas, black, white, and various shades of brown and grey. No two seemed to be the same. So that could explain what Doc had been doing this week, buying llamas. She knew her smile was getting broader, and it wasn't only in admiration for the animals.

  They went into the field, and now Lucy was quite used to llamas, so when they crowded round, sniffing these strange people, she just laughed and patted their necks. Flick came into the paddock as well, but the others, Lucy was amused to see, stayed cautiously outside the fence.

  'Like them?' Doc asked.

  'They are gorgeous. I especially like that little honey-coloured one. A sweater that shade would be heavenly. How old are they?'

  'They're all two years old. They'll be ready for breeding next spring. By then I'll have found a male.'

  'The black one's my birthday present,' Flick said. 'I'm going to have all the fibre from her made into sweaters and coats and whatever else I can. We're going to shear them in a couple of weeks, when they've got used to us. You must come and help.'

  'Bring your hairdressing gear,' Doc said, and Lucy looked at him to see if he was serious.

  'Don't pay any attention. We'll use ordinary sheep shears,' Flick said. 'Not electric ones, until they've got used to the idea. We'll use the old-fashioned kind.'

  She'd seen sheep being manhandled by the shearers, and couldn't see llamas appreciating being hauled onto their backs, even if there were men strong enough to do it.

  'Come back on Sunday to get properly acquainted,' Doc said. 'But I imagine you don't have much time, if you have clients this afternoon, so let's go back to the house now and eat. Daisy's prepared a salad and a buffet.'

  It was unlike any salad she'd ever tasted. No limp lettuce and soggy tomatoes for Daisy. She didn't recognise half the ingredients, but it was all delicious.

  Daisy herself was about her age. She seemed totally in control, perfectly self-assured, if a little aloof, and she wondered why such a superior woman was doing housework in other people's houses. She ought to have been running her own catering business, or doing her cordon bleu cooking for board room meetings or prestigious dinner parties.

  She didn't have time for a lot of speculation, as she had to get back to her next client. Flick came out to the van with her.

  'I wish Daisy had been able to cater for the party,' she said, sighing. 'After her food it's going to be so ordinary.'

  'It will be great,' Lucy said. 'Must be off. See you later.'

  *

  Chapter 13

  Kate was bringing one of her new colleagues to the party, and he called for her in his car. She shouted goodbye as she dashed out of the house, and Lucy glanced out of the bedroom window to see her getting into a Mercedes convertible. Hm, accountants must make serious money. Perhaps her calculating sister had chosen the right profession after all.

  She planned to walk to the King's Head. This wasn't due to compliance with drink-driving laws, more to the hope that Doc might offer her a lift home. There was nothing more frustrating than having an attractive man offer a lift and not being able to accept because of having your own transport. Not like Kate, who would have accepted and made Lucy drive her back to collect her own car.

  Edward had phoned the previous day to say Doc had booked him a room at the King's Head. He offered to pick her up, but she'd made the excuse she didn't know when she'd be ready, as she was working all day. She didn't want to arrive attached to him. She was going to be a free agent, and she would make it clear to him she was not his date. She tried to tell him she thought it a bit much he'd invited himself anyway, but he'd cut her short by saying he had another call waiting, and she hadn't been able to finish.

  The King's Head was an old building, and several of the small rooms had been knocked together to make a complicated maze of bars and restaurant. A large conservatory-style function room had been built out at the back, totally out of keeping, but it made a wonderful party venue. To get there you had to weave through the bars, and as Lucy did so she met Jeff Bryant, who was standing at the counter with Robert Sinclair.

  'Lucy, come and have a drink with us,' Jeff said. 'What did you think of Doc's llamas? He's planning to build up a big herd, I understand.'

  'What'll you have?' Robert asked. 'Jeff tells me you've become an expert on llamas.'

  She asked for an orange juice. She didn't want to get plastered too soon.

  'No, but I'm not scared of them now, like I was when Rosa first came to visit. They're gentle creatures.'

  'Doc tells me Rosa has done her stuff. You had quite an exciting time, with hot air balloons and a hotel fire.'

  She looked carefully at Robert, but it seemed to be a straightforward comment, with no sly undertones.

  'It was, rather. After rounding them up when they fled, it would be hard to be afraid of them.'

  Had he heard about the dip into the river, too? At least Miss Brown hadn't known they'd been swimming as well as the dogs. She wondered how many other innuendoes she'd be hearing this evening. Perhaps she needed to consult with Doc to ask what, exactly, he had told people.

  The thought made her swallow the orange juice quickly. She ought to find Doc before too many other people spoke to her. Well, it was as good a reason as any other to talk to him.

  'See you later,' she said, putting her glass on the bar and trying to act nonchalant.

  She was almost into the function room when, rounding a corner, she saw Doc and Alice sitting on a banquette in a cosy little area where there was just one table.

  She stopped short. They were not looking in her direction, but if she went on they'd be bound to see her. There was another table just round the corner, and she sat down there while she decided what to do. She could go back and get to the party room through another bar, but she'd have to pass Jeff and Robert, and they'd wonder why she was doing that. It would be difficult to explain.

  Then she realised, to her dismay, that she could hear their voices. The partition between their corner and hers didn't go right up to the ceiling. She hadn't noticed because it was a sort of trellis and there was artificial greenery growing all over it.

  'Cas, I'm truly, truly sorry,' Alice was saying. There was a catch in her voice, as though she was crying. 'It was just a moment's distraction, and it was really those awful Thorpe twins with their donkeys who did the damage. If they hadn't been there it wouldn't have happened. Please can't you forgive me and we can go back to how we used to be? I've been so very, very unhappy!'

  Lucy couldn't bear to listen to this. She knew what Doc would say. How could any man resist Alice in such an unhappy state? He'd want to kiss and console her. She might even want to herself. Suddenly she recalled the Ladies, which was in another part of the warren of rooms, where she didn't have to pass Jeff and Robert. Without waiting for Doc to reply she got to her feet and almost ran. She'd wait there for a while. Doc and Alice couldn't stay in their cosy little retreat too long, there would be other guests passing by. In ten minutes or so, it would be clear for her to get past.

  When she emerged, there
were some other people threading their way through the bars, so she tacked on to them. The discreet little alcove was empty. Ahead she heard music, and when they reached the big room she saw several people dancing. Right in front of her were Doc and Alice, and she looked deliriously happy. Lucy almost bolted for the Ladies again.

  She told herself as firmly as she could that she couldn't hide away for ever. Doc was obviously a philanderer who had been willing to take advantage of the situation. He and Alice had, after all, been practically engaged. It had been a momentary irritation on his part which had caused the rift. And, she added despondently, Alice was the most beautiful girl she'd ever seen, and had a nature to match. She was perfect in every way. What man could resist her?

  She still had Edward. Even though she didn't want him, his presence tonight would help to salvage some of her pride. She tried to tell herself it was hurt pride making her feel downcast, but she was telling herself fibs. She'd fallen for Doc, had done right from the start, and the more she got to know him the more infatuated she'd become. She wanted nothing more than that a relationship would develop.

  It wasn't because he was filthy rich, able on a whim to buy a whole herd of llamas, which must have cost thousands. She really wasn't that mercenary. Karl had been wealthy, at times, until he began to fling all his money away on drugs and other women. She could honestly say she was happier in her little cottage than she'd ever been in the luxury dockside penthouse. She didn't need lots of money.

  He was good looking, but so were plenty of other men. Edward, for instance, might by many people be judged more classically handsome. She just liked Doc better. No, she corrected her thoughts, she had fallen for him and she'd never felt anything like this for Edward, who had been no more than a mildly pleasant companion. Why certain people fell in love was some kind of chemistry no one had ever been able to explain. When only one person felt the chemistry, however, and it wasn't returned, there was nothing the one could do about it.

  She'd been standing just inside the doorway, absorbed in these philosophical thoughts, oblivious to the other people in the room. She was shaken out of her reverie by Kate, who grabbed her arm and began to walk her round the room, skirting the dancers and the tables which lined the walls.

  'Come and meet Justin,' she said. 'What's the matter? You looked as though you'd seen a ghost back there.'

  'I must be tired,' she lied. 'I've been on my feet all day, and they are not fully recovered yet.'

  She glanced down at her unexciting flatties, an old pair she'd fished out of one of the cases of clothes she hadn't yet bothered to unpack. They were waiting for her to get around to sorting before donating to a charity shop.

  'You should have bought some new ones when you went shopping.'

  'I forgot I might need them.' Really, her younger sister sometimes sounded like her grandmother.

  They'd reached a small group of people, and Kate detached one of the men and made introductions. Justin was around thirty, tall and thin, with rather stooped shoulders. He wore gold-rimmed glasses which did nothing to flatter his long, thin face, and his voice was rather high pitched. She just couldn't imagine him with a Mercedes convertible.

  She glanced at Kate in utter amazement. Her previous boyfriends had all been rugger-playing hunks. Was she really determined to marry a man for money, and couldn't she find a better specimen than this?

  They only had time to exchange a few commonplace remarks about the weather and what a nice old pub and Shorter's Green seemed a nice place to live, didn't she think, when Edward appeared. For once she was glad to see him. She simply didn't know what to say to Justin.

  'Hello, Kate, Lucy,' he said.

  She smiled, perhaps a little too welcomingly, for Edward's stern look melted, he smiled back, and without asking her put his arm round her and swung her into the dance. By an unfortunate chance they finished up right next to Doc and Alice, and she could see the besotted look on his face and the happy one on hers. She closed her eyes, and Edward must have thought it was bliss at being in his arms, for his grip tightened, and he began slobbering at her ear. Out of the corner of her eye she saw Doc look at them, then he swung Alice away and they were lost amongst the other dancers.

  *

  Luckily they didn't have to stay with the same partners. Everybody was dancing with other people. She saw Doc dancing with Flick, while Alice was with someone she didn't know. Edward asked Kate so Justin was left asking Lucy.

  She discovered he was quite high up the ladder in his firm, and had one of those big detached houses in North Oxford. Most of them, she knew, were split into flats, but apparently his wasn't. His mother lived with him since his father had died, he said. She wondered if Kate knew this. Somehow she did not see her living with Justin, and even less with a mother-in-law, however big his North Oxford house.

  She danced with Jeff, and Robert, and several other men, until the food was brought in. It was good, substantial solid rather than cordon bleu. She happened to be next to Daisy while they were filling their plates. At least, she was filling her plate. Daisy had one slice of tomato and one of cucumber on hers, and was muttering about whether the chicken thighs were organic as she considered taking one. Lucy looked rather guiltily at her slice of quiche, sausage rolls, bread roll and chunks of cheese, sausages on sticks, and greedy heap of coleslaw – she was partial to coleslaw – and decided she'd pass on the chicken, organic or not. She could always come back, there was more than enough food even if everyone ate as much as she did.

  She looked round for Kate, and saw her at a table for six. She got there as Justin arrived with two nicely filled plates, and sat down. Robert and his wife were nearby, looking for somewhere to sit, and she was about to beckon them over when Edward appeared, easing his way through the crush. He deposited two plates on the table, and she was surprised. He wasn't normally greedy about food. He turned round, and she saw Alice behind him.

  He had the usual infatuated expression she was beginning to associate with men when they first encountered Alice. She went through a rapid gamut of emotions. She didn't want Edward, she was sure of that, but did she want Alice taking him off her? It would be too big a blow to her self-esteem. Alice already had Doc, when Lucy had begun to think she might be in with a chance there. It was galling to think she was also stealing her former boyfriend. Then she shrugged. She wasn't doing it on purpose. She was so pretty, and so sweet, she could hardly help it if men were enslaved on first sight.

  She wondered whether Doc would come and sit with them, and what his reaction would be on seeing Edward's behaviour, but it was Jeff who sank into the last chair. She couldn't see Doc anywhere, and immediately began to imagine him cosying up to the efficient Daisy. She was amazed at herself. She'd never felt like this before, even during her initial infatuation with Karl, and he'd had plenty of girls making up to him then, before he became really famous.

  Kate and Jeff began talking about Doc's llamas. Justin asked what she had to admit were intelligent questions, which the others had to pass on to her. She wasn't able to satisfy his questions about the costs of buying and keeping llamas, or the prices their fibre would fetch, but she thought he finally concluded it could be a profitable venture.

  'I must look into it more,' he said. 'I wonder if there are investment opportunities?'

  'I don't think there are any stock market shares available,' she said. 'You'd probably have to find a farmer like Doc and put up some capital.'

  'Of course.' She felt a fool for trying to tell an accountant that. 'It's worth investigating. I must talk to this Finlay fellow. Where is he?'

  Kate spied Doc at a table the far side of the room and pointed him out. 'He's over there with Flick, and I think the older couple are her parents.'

  Edward and Alice had taken no part in this discussion. Edward was gazing into her eyes, a soppy grin on his face, while she smiled serenely back. The rest of them might not have been there.

  Then Kate's mobile rang, and Lucy frowned at her. It had a most ir
ritating jingle, and it took her ages to dig it out of her bag. She listened for a few minutes and said nothing more than 'Yes' and 'OK' before she switched off and put it away. Then she glared at Lucy.

  'Why don't you ever switch your damned mobile on?'

  'I didn't bring it tonight.' She showed Kate her minuscule evening bag which held just a comb, lipstick and tissues, plus a few notes and coins. 'What's it got to do with me?'

  'Mum and Dad are sitting outside the cottage. They flew in this afternoon. They rang from the phone box at the end of the road, since they can't abide mobiles either, and want to know where we are, and how long we're going to be. They're exhausted and want to sleep.'

  *

  'Mum and Dad? All the way from Australia?'

  'Where else? That's where they live now.'

  'Why? And why didn't they let us know they were coming?'

  'Mum's best friend has been given a few days to live, and Mum wanted to see her. You remember Margaret Hughes? They only had time to catch a plane, not phone us. They went to see Margaret somewhere in Oxford the moment they got here, and every time they tried to contact us the house phone wasn't answered.'

  'I was out all day, working,' Lucy pointed out.

  'My mobile was engaged, yours was off, so they hired a car and drove down. They assume, since your van and my car are sitting there, that we must be close by.' She stood up. 'Come on, we have to go.'

  Justin stood up too. 'I'll drive you both back.'

  Edward and Alice had heard this, Kate's voice had been rather high-pitched. Edward looked embarrassed.

  'Lucy, is there anything I can do?' he asked.

  'No thanks. The cottage will be crowded enough. Stay here and enjoy the rest of the party.'

  Alice looked worried. 'Lucy, I'm so sorry for your Mum and her friend. I don't know them, but it must be awful to have that kind of news. Look, I know your cottage is small. I've got a spare double room in my flat, so if they want to stay with me I'd be very happy to help.'